President Yoweri Museveni said in his State of the Nation Address to parliament on Thursday that the four sectors are very crucial in wealth creation and access to employment.

“Anybody wishing to generate wealth, create self-employment, employ others or access employment has no alternative but choose one of these four,” the President said.

The agricultural sector grew by 1.5% per annum this financial year. “Agriculture in Uganda is still handicapped by the 68% of the households that were in subsistence farming according to the census of 2002. If all these homesteads were converted to commercial farming, the size of agriculture would be much bigger,” he said.

President Museveni inspects a guard of honour upon arrival at Serena Hotel. Photo by Enock Kakande

He said that the global demand for coffee is 149.1 million bags at the value of US$ 13.6 billion; the value of tea is US$ 11.4 billion with a total demand of 4 million tonnes; the total value of milk and milk products is US$ 32.8 billion with the total quantities of 730 million tonnes.

He reiterated government’s commitment to roll out the irrigation schemes citing Doho Irrigation Rice Scheme that has been repaired at a cost of sh19.7b. Mobuku repaired at cost of sh19b.

The Agoro Irrigation Scheme has been completed at the cost of sh27b as well as the rehabilitation of the Olweny Irrigation Scheme which commences in 2014/15 financial years at cost of sh42b.

KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi was one of the dignitaries present. Photo by Enock Kakande

MPs pose for a group shot with the president after the address. Photo by Enock Kakande

President Museveni shares a light moment with the legislators after the address. Photo by Enock Kakande

The President said that he has directed the ministry of Agriculture to work with Kenya to avail affordable mini-irrigation equipment.

Industry sector now employs over 841,704 persons. The annual rate of growth of the industrial sector has been 5.6%
The services (hotels, transport, banks, professional services, etc) this year grew by 5.6%. It employs 2,684,290 persons and accounts for 45.4% of our GDP.

The ICT sector is growing at 15% annually for last 2 years. It has got capacity to employ many people. The ICT is crucial for communication among people, for data processing and for automation, the President said.

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